Atlas Shrugged – Day 053 – pp. 589-598
“Split rail,” the conductor answered impassively. “the engines went off the track. . .”
Rails were worn. Scheduled to be replaced. Order canceled by Clifton Locey.
Might he finally be held responsible? What about the engine?. . .
It’s flipped on its side and ain’t pulling this train anywhere anymore.
Kip ain’t going to make the rally.
The situation works its way up the chain of command – or more appropriately up the chain of deniability.
The engineer calls Winston, CO – the operator at Winston gets the station agent – the station agent calls the dispatcher at division HQ who called Dave Mitchum – the superintendent of the CO division.
Dave is a product of the Rearden deal between Mouch and Taggart.
“Mouch made him throw in an extra favor, by their customary rules of bargaining, which consisted of squeezing all one could out of an given trade. The extra was a job of Dave Mitchum, who was the brother-in-law of Claude Slagenhop, who was the president of the Friends of Global Progress, who were regarded by Mouch as a valuable influence on public opinion.”
Dave’s qualifications?
“Dave Mitchum had always complained about injustice, because, he said, he had always had bad luck . . . about the conspiracy of the big fellows, who would never give him a chance, . . . Seniority of service was his favorite topic of complaint. . .”
So Dave’s in charge now. And looking for advice.
“What in hell are we going to do?”
“One thing is certain,” said Bill Brent, the chief dispatcher. “We can’t send a train into the tunnel with a coal-burning engine.”
Bill’s referring to the fact that the spare diesel Dagny used to keep at Winston is now on a political tour somewhere on Locey’s orders. — Remember that remark.
There is only one choice in this situation. To wait for another diesel and make the Comet however late it will be.
“But they’ll blame us for it in New York!”
Kip Chalmers has just received news they’ll be spending the night. And he’s replied that he ain’t spending the night. Don’t they know who he is? He’s got vital shit of an important national nature to do.
Kip’s going to send a message to Jim Taggart and get this train moving.
So Kip dictates a message to the wire boy to be sent to Jim Taggart. After he goes back to his car, the station agent calls Dave Mitchum and reads him the text of the message.
The operator in NY relayed the call to Taggart’s home. And now back down the ladder. Taggart calls Locey.
Locey rushed to the Taggart office rushing around just enough to be noticed. He wired Dave Mitchum an order:
“Give an engine to Mr. Chalmers at once. Send the Comet through safely and without unnecessary delay. If you are unable to perform your duties, I shall hold you responsible before the UB.”
Then he called a girlfriend and disappeared for the night.
Mitchum to Taggart to Locey to Mitchum.
The language of the wire was tight. Taking Locey completely out of the loop and putting Dave in the crosshairs. Now what?
Mitchum tries to contact Locey back. No luck
He calls Omaha. The general manager resigned the previous week. The acting manager won’t have anything to do with Colorado’s problems.
Then he called the Chief Engineer. “Do exactly as Mr. Locey says.”
Dave’s screwed.
Responsibility has become like one of those peg-board games where you drop a ball in one of ten slots at the top and watch it bounce randomly down a maze of pegs and try and guess which slot it’ll lands in at the bottom. Where will the blame land.
But I guess you don’t advance your career this far without any skills in weaseling your way out of situations.
He sat down and typed out an order to the train-master – to call a crew together, and one to the foreman to send the best engine they had to Winston.
This is unnerving…
“The road foreman walked across the yards, looking down at the ground. He was thinking of his wife, his two children and the house which he had spent a lifetime to own. He knew what his superiors were doing and he wondered whether he should refuse to obey them. . . . There had been a time when he had ben required to do his best and rewarded accordingly. NOw he could expect nothing but punishment, . . . they did not want him to think, only to obey. They did not want him to have a conscience any longer. . . . He saw, in astonished horror, that the choice which he now had to make was between the lives of his children and the lives of the passengers on the Comet. . . . He walked into the roundhouse and ordered a large, ancient cola-burning locomotive to be made ready for the run ton Winston.”
Holy cow. . .